Many identity documents are made from xerographic printing on sheets of different formats. After these sheets have been cut, each cut part (called “coupon”) is laminated between two sheets of transparent plastic.
There now follows a brief description, by way of example, of the method of producing an identity card, the print medium of which is Teslin™ (a very highly silica-filled polyethylene, printed easily by offset, inkjet or laser and toner printing). The Teslin sheets are first of all offset printed in order to produce the card background which comprises conventional security features, such as fine ornamental lines, iridescence (patterns with a color that changes continually from one color to another from one end of the card to the other). These sheets are then normally cut to A4 format. Eight cards can be positioned on such a format. Using a xerographic printer, the various cards of the A4 sheets are personalized with a photograph on the front and corresponding legal status information on the front and the back. The duly personalized sheets are then cut to a basic format (called coupon) slightly larger than that of the final card. Finally, the coupons are laminated between two polyester/polyethylene laminates, then cut to the standard identity card format called “ID1”. Additional security elements can be added, for example prints visible in ultraviolet light or holograms deposited on the internal face of one of the laminates. Laminates on reels including such security elements are commercially available.
This known method of producing identity cards offers a good level of security, but it is not proof against a sophisticated form of forgery consisting in heating up the cards, ungluing the protective laminates from these cards, modifying the data written on these cards and regluing the laminates onto the forged cards.